Antenatal and newborn screening for sickle cell and thalassaemia - will the NHS Plan deliver?
Allison Streetly

This presentation reviews the issues arising in relation to the government’s commitment to introduce screening for newborn and antenatal screening for sickle cell and thalassaemia. It discusses what the commitment means in terms of screening programmes, reviews the historical background to the inclusion of the commitment in the NHS plan in 2000 and considers what it actually means in symbolic as well as practical terms. Following this background it considers what the risks to the implementation of the programme are and the tensions inherent in the commitment, specifically in relation to the fact that the developments proposed are specific and focused and do not address many of the wider issues for these conditions. Moving on from these considerations the paper considers the opportunities for success despite the limitations highlighted, and concludes with a summary of where the NHS Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia programme has reached in relation to policy development and implementation of the screening programmes. It concludes that considerable progress has been made over the past two years particularly in relation to policy development but much remains to be done in relation to implementation and service development.

Reference:

Streetly A. A national screening policy for sickle cell disease and thalassaemia major for the United Kingdom. BMJ 2000;320:1353-1354.